Evaluating Turtle Dove HLS Package - Final Report Leila K. Walker, Antony J. Morris1 1 RSPB, The Lodge, Sandy, Beds, SG19 2DL Corresponding author: [email protected] Natural England 24931 Framework for Environmental Stewardship Monitoring and Evaluation: Lot 7 (Birds). Work Package Number ECM6924 Farmland birds work programme 2015/16 – Work Package 1 RSPB Subcontract – Module 2: Natural England’s Turtle Dove HLS Package SUMMARY Background & Methods o The turtle dove (Streptopelia turtur) is declining faster than any other bird in England (by 91% since 1995), and hence appears on the Section 41 list of species considered by the Secretary of State as being ‘of principal importance for the conservation of biodiversity in England’. o In England, declines have been linked to a reduction in availability of nest sites and foraging habitat, which are likely to have adversely impacted reproductive output. o To help redress the loss of key habitats, the Operation Turtle Dove partnership have developed the Turtle Dove Package (TDP): a suite of options tailored to meet the needs of breeding turtle doves: accessible seed-rich foraging habitat close to suitably managed scrub and hedgerows providing safe nesting habitat. o Initially, the TDP has been deployed via selected HLS agreements in eastern England with recent nearby records of turtle doves. Results o 20 TDP agreements in Suffolk and south Norfolk were each surveyed twice between 11th May and 31st July 2015. o The occupancy and abundance of turtle doves within a 1km2 at each TDP agreement were recorded, as well as the extent of land parcels of crops, agri- environment scheme (AES) options and other non-cropped habitat. Fine-scale vegetation assessments of potential turtle dove nesting and foraging habitat (both AES and non-AES) that fell within the core 1km2 area were also conducted. o Turtle doves were recorded on nine out of 20 agreements. A total of 13 territorial birds were recorded (maximum two territorial birds per agreement). o There was a tendency for tetrads occupied by turtle doves to have greater total area of potential turtle dove foraging habitat. Tetrads occupied by turtle doves had a marginally significantly greater area of option HK15 Maintenance of grassland for target features and there was a tendency for turtle dove abundance to be greater on squares with more HK15. There was a tendency for turtle dove abundance to increase with increasing area of bespoke HF4 Nectar flower mixture option. o Based on fine-scale vegetation assessments, 28% of TDP foraging options were classified as suitable (although not optimal) for feeding. Only a very small number of TDP nesting options were provided (of which none were assessed suitable), although 67% of non-AES nesting habitat was classified as suitable. o 80 % of TDP agreements, within the core 1km2, contained potential nesting and foraging habitat in close proximity (< 150 m). This falls to 45 % of agreements when only suitable nesting and foraging habitat are considered. The mean closest distance between nesting and foraging habitat (both potential and suitable) did not differ significantly between turtle dove occupied and unoccupied sites. Conclusions o The findings of this report represent the first assessment of whether the TDP (as implemented through HLS) achieves its goals, and provides an indication of the effectiveness of the bespoke species package concept, which will be rolled out more widely for turtle doves (and other target bird species), in Countryside Stewardship agreements starting from 2016. o Turtle dove occupancy was 64.3%, when controlling for the 70 % detection rate of the survey methodology (cf. 45% uncorrected occupancy). This is reasonable when considered against the backdrop of an ongoing rapid decline in England of 91% since 1995. o 1-2 years after the implementation of the TDP, there were some indications that turtle dove occupancy and abundance were positively associated with agreements containing some foraging habitat that delivered suitable conditions. o However, in most cases the conditions on the foraging habitat were not optimal; in particular, management that guarantees that the birds can gain access to the ground needs to be increased or improved. Most agreements provided potential (although not suitable) nesting habitat in close proximity to foraging sites: an essential requirement for juveniles in the first few weeks after leaving the nest. o For nesting habitat, the very small number of TDP options being deployed made it hard to assess their delivery, although existing non-AES nesting habitat present on the survey sites was often suitable. o A future resurvey will be necessary to further assess the quality of the habitat management as the agreements mature, and to enable assessment of trends in abundance of turtle doves on the TDP sites compared to those in the wider- countryside (as measured by a sample of BBS 1km2). INTRODUCTION The turtle dove (Streptopelia turtur) is declining faster than any other bird in England (by 91% since 1995) and is one of 52 birds listed on Section 41 and hence, considered by the Secretary of State as ‘of principal importance for the conservation of biodiversity in England’. Similar downward trends are apparent in most European countries and this has led to the IUCN re- classifying the global conservation status of turtle doves to “vulnerable” (and “near-threatened” in the EU27). Agri-environment schemes (AES), via the provision of sympathetic land management, are a key mechanism for delivering suitable foraging and nesting habitat for this species. However, Environmental Stewardship has failed to stabilise the population decline, and there is no evidence that trends on generic Environmental Stewardship agreements (ELS or HLS) are significantly different to those on farms outwith AES (Baker et al., 2012; Bright et al., 2015; RSPB and BTO unpublished data). Therefore, a new approach of bespoke management options and integrated provision of key resources, delivered via the Turtle Dove Package (TDP) of HLS options, has been developed by Natural England. The TDP aims to provide two key habitat types, the loss of which has been linked to turtle dove decline in England: accessible seed-rich foraging habitat (e.g. cultivated uncropped field margins or bespoke modified nectar mixes; Dunn et al., 2015) close to suitable scrub and hedgerows that provide safe nesting habitat (e.g. management of high environmental value hedgerows or creation of successional areas and scrub). The package has been promoted through the Operation Turtle Dove partnership and deployed via HLS agreements in localities in eastern England with recent records of turtle doves. This work programme (Module 2 of the Farmland birds work programme 2015/16 – Work Package 1) will provide the first evaluation of the TDP, and takes place within the first two years of TDP agreements being drawn up. The objectives of Module 2 were to: 1. Assess whether bespoke HLS management delivers suitable nesting and foraging habitats for turtle doves 2. Assess whether turtle dove occupancy and abundance were related to the amount and characteristics of TDP (or other AES) options and other crops and habitats within a core 1km2 of the agreements 3. Assess whether deployment of the Turtle Dove HLS Package can halt or reverse population decline at the farm scale (noting that this will require a subsequent re-survey to be delivered under a separate contract) Here we report on our progress against these objectives. METHODS Site selection 20 HLS agreements providing the TDP in Suffolk and south Norfolk (Figure 1) were surveyed on two occasions between mid-May and late July 2015. The number of agreements surveyed was close to the maximum that could be covered in the time allowed. HLS agreements were chosen with the assistance of local NE advisors, and effort was made to select agreements that were representative of the population of TDP agreements, in terms of the range of management options provided. First visits were conducted between 11th May and 19th June, and second visits between 22nd June and 31st July. Figure 1: Location of HLS agreements providing the TDP that were surveyed during 2015 (red circles: turtle doves present; black circles: turtle doves absent). Territory mapping core 1km2 On each visit, surveys covered all land in the HLS agreement within a core 1km2, defined to encompass as many blocks of different AES options potentially beneficial to turtle doves as possible. A 1km2 unit was used as it can be readily covered by one observer in a single early morning visit, when territorial activity is at its peak (Dunn & Morris 2012). It is also known that an area of 1km2 can contain multiple territories if the habitat is good: Murton (1968) recorded 4- 9 pairs per 0.65 ha near Cambridge, whilst Browne & Aebischer (2001) recorded a territory range size of 1.64 – 4.58 ha (mean 2.68 ± 0.17 ha) from sites in Eastern England where additional seed food was provided. On both visits, early morning surveys were conducted to determine the location and density of territorial turtle doves and the presence of foraging adults and juveniles. We used a turtle dove territory mapping protocol closely based on the methodology used by Dunn & Morris (2012) and during subsequent surveys of turtle dove trial plots and control farms during 2011-14 (Dunn et al., in prep a). On each visit a complete area search (Wotton et al., 2004) of all suitable habitat within the 1 km2 was conducted. Areas with obviously unsuitable habitat (e.g. large open fields with uniform tall, dense crops and very short hedgerows) were not surveyed. The edge of all suitable habitat was slowly walked and any turtle dove seen or heard were recorded on maps using standard CBC activity codes (Marchant et al., 1990, Bibby et al., 2000). Surveys started at sunrise and lasted a maximum of two hours, as vocal activity is markedly reduced after this time (Calladine et al., 1999).